


engraving me on your skin

by bellafaithy



Category: ENHYPEN (Band), I-LAND (Korea TV)
Genre: Because I wanted to, Curious Jongseong, M/M, Soulmate AU, bring it here!, flustered sunghoon, holy shit i just found out there's no heeseung/sunghoon/jay tags, i made heeseung's character small in here, like dude that tag has been in twt for since like forever, mentioned yeonkai
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:02:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27601100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellafaithy/pseuds/bellafaithy
Summary: “Let’s share the room. The bed.” Jay says simply. “well, technically we’ve been sharing almost every single thing in the house except our underwears and toothbrush, but details. It seemed like you like it every time we share our space.”Heeseung blushes, munching on his food quickly before he chokes on them. “I never said I like it.”“I like it. You like it. He likes it. We share the bed, we are happy, satisfied. Boom. It’s a win-win situation.”“Did you actually go along with this plan?” Heeseung asks Sunghoon, abashed. Sunghoon shrugs, not opposing. “It’s not really a plan if he’s just gonna bulldoze his way into getting what he wants, so.”in a universe where your soulmate's name burns your skin the moment you meet your soulmate, Sunghoon finds himself in a bind--and a little confused--for the fact that Heeseung, a complete stranger, has Jay's full name on his neck, his soulmate of three years
Relationships: Lee Heeseung/Park Jongseong | Jay, Lee Heeseung/Park Sunghoon, Lee Heeseung/Park Sunghoon/Park Jongseong | Jay, Park Jongseong | Jay/Park Sunghoon
Comments: 37
Kudos: 160





	1. Meet heeseungie!

“What time did he say he was coming?” Sunghoon asks, rinsing the last plate in the sink, Jay clattering away somewhere in the living room doing his share of the deep cleaning of their flat.

“Should be around 3. He texted me just now saying he got stuck in traffic. He’ll be around in half an hour, I think,” Jay answers. Sunghoon places the now clean dishes at the drying rack, wiping his hands dry with a cloth.

“Come to think of it, we never asked how he’s gonna bring all of his stuff here,” Sunghoon says, feet padding over the carpeted floor of their living room towards Jay who’s going through the fashion magazines he’s collected over the years at the bookshelves, reorganizing them to appear more appropriate to welcome their new flatmate.

It’s the first time ever since they’ve bought the flat for the past 3 years to ever have any flatmate. They’ve been content and financially stable even without an extra flatmate to fill in the one room they have left unoccupied, seeing no reason to live in separate rooms when they’re both soulmates and lovers.

But one of their close friends, Kei, had informed them of a dear friend of his looking for a place to live in since that friend is studying at T university, four bus stops away from their flat.

For some reason and also because Jay, being the friendly and caring guy he is, had asked for a bit more detail on this person, just out of courtesy to be precise, and Kei had said something about _“tiny human,” “a bit of an oddball but is really damn cute, very nice person. The guy's hilarious, too,” “he likes a quiet place for his job,”._

That last description doesn’t sit well with the way Sunghoon and Jay live, considering they’re the ones who’ve had their asses dubbed as the loudest flat neighbours in their unit, but Sunghoon and Jay had let Kei showed them a picture of the said friend and the three of them squeezed against each other at the booth at the cafe they’d been eating at.

It’s a selfie of Kei and the aforementioned sleeping; a strawberry plushie hugged tightly to his chest, the person’s face mushed against the plushie with Kei at the corner giving a peace sign at the camera, cheeky. The first thing that popped inside Sunghoon’s head was _what small hands he has._

He’s got bangs and some longer strands of hair peeking from behind his neck. His skin was rather pale, and he slept with his lips pursed against each other.

“Why of all pictures, you have of him sleeping?” Sunghoon had quirked his eyebrows at Kei, who in turn flushed a pretty pink at the tips of his ears.

“He’s just really cute, okay?” he shrugged his shoulders, grinning and playing it off cool before quietly stashing his phone away.

Nonetheless, Kei’s words and that picture of the young man had bugged both Sunghoon and Jay for the next few days to the point, for no apparent reason. Is it because they were aware of the much easiness they could give to one of their bestfriend's friend? Help a dear friend out? Or did they electricity bill racked up the last month's from Jay's brand new gaming console?

Nevertheless, Jay had burst and yelled, “Fuck! I think we need a flatmate, for real.”

They rang Kei up, set up a ‘meeting’ with his friend, alongside Kei because “You guys would need a proper introduction to him. He'll just be a blubbering mess when he meets strangers.”

Sunghoon had taken a look at Jay throughout the entire time of them going to the meet-up’s location and waiting, how his knees kept fidgeting and biting his fingernail. It’s been a while since he’d seen Jay been so nervous, expectant, looking forward to a mere meet-up with their potential new flatmate and it tugged something at his heart, how he felt it too. That feeling of discovery that this meeting was not just a mere potential flatmate interview.

He felt a bit hollow, yet a little hopeful, for some reason. Like this will turn into something totally unexpected real soon.

Kei was easy to spot with his gigantic height, and it was confusing for a moment because they didn’t see anyone else with him. Until Kei noticed them and had screamed so loud, half of the customers there looked at him with weird looks.

Jay, the epitome of a sunshine ball and a loudmouth too, had screamed back, waving wildly.

“Yo Kei hyung, where’s the guy?” Sunghoon asked, tugging Jay towards the taller male until a head slowly peeked its way out from the seat and they both stared, abashed, as these pair of enormous bronze eyes stared at them besides Kei, long dirty brown locks curtaining them. 

Kei snickered. “You can’t see him? He’s right beside me.”

He pointed at his left, receiving a socking somewhere around his left side from the former.

When they came to sit in front of them at the booth, the _actual_ size of the man they had been eager (read: dying) to see was surprisingly, adorably delighting.

“Oh my god, hyung. You weren’t kidding when you said he was tiny,” Sunghoon commented offhandedly. The blush they all received had Jay tearing out a full grin, ear to ear.

“Haa, I get that a lot,” the ‘tiny’ man said, scratching at his sideburn. Lips quirking up. “I’m Heeseung, Lee Heeseung. Nice to meet you.”

Heeseung’s cute. So. Damn. Cute. In all literal senses. Jay would have said this in full caps lock, full stop at each word.

“It’s my third year this year. I’ve been living at C Garden Apartment for 2 years now, but it’s a two-hour commute from where I’m studying, not to mention the hell I had to go through when the traffic’s jammed. I would like to have it easy on my last 2 years here, I wish,” Heeseung said, looking down at his fingers at the base of his coffee cup.

Sunghoon glanced at them. They’re so tiny; there was no way he’s making that up.

In the wildest second, he briefly wondered how they would feel compared to the size of his own. He backtracked his thoughts, quickly shaking them off. What's wrong with him?

“Are you working now, hyung? Can I call you that?” Jay leaned forward, crossing his arms on the table and smiling brightly. He’d sat in front of Heeseung, and the man leaned backwards the slightest bit at the proximity, smiling back shyly.

Kei had commented before that Heeseung is not the shiest person they will ever think of, but he’s quite the lonesome and can be a bit of a hard nut to crack when he’s dealing with strangers, so Jay had taken this with great consideration, trying his best to break the ice without making himself out a bit overbearing.

“Yes, please call me that. I’ve had enough of the drop of honorifics from this guy’s friends over here,” he pointed to Kei who’s casually sucking on the last bit of his chocolate vanilla frappe, raising 2 of his fingers with a “Whuddup.”

“I’m working a part-time job as a proof-reader at this small company. It’s not much, but it helps and doesn’t get in the way of my classes that much,” Heeseung told more about himself, tilting his head to the side, his hair brushing down to his cheek, revealing an impressive set of earrings adorning his left ear and the short mullet Sunghoon and Jay failed to notice earlier.

“You guys are the same age?” Heeseung asked.

“Yup!” Jay piped up, taking Sunghoon’s arm and lifting the right sleeve of his loose t-shirt up to his bicep, revealing a cursive black ink of Jay’s name adorning the skin of his bicep and he places his arm adjacent to the name, palm facing forward.

“We’ve been soulmates for 3 years already,” Jay went full toothy smile, the evidence of Sunghoon’s full name engraved on his inner forearm still had him beaming, proudly showing it off to people whenever the time allows him to.

“Oh,” Heeseung smiled, wide. He has got to have the most sparkling set of teeth Sunghoon has ever had the opportunity to see in his entire lifetime. “That’s so cute.”

“You?” Sunghoon addressed Heeseung, curiosity evident on his cat eyes. Heeseung lightly shakes his head.

“No. Yet. I think,” he laughed awkwardly, clearing his throat afterwards. “So your full names are Park Jay and Park Sunghoon?”

“Yes—oh my, silly us. Where’s our attitude?” Jay slapped his own forehead with the tips of his fingers, Sunghoon slapping him at the cheek just for the heck of it and Heeseung snickered on his doughnut as Jay slapped him back.

“Okay, let’s start over. My name’s Park Jongseong--please call me Jay--and this loser over here is Park Sunghoon, ma man,” Jay offered a hand across the table, a coy act of courtesy that Heeseung played along with, a playful smile on his thin lips as he reached for the younger’s hand.

“Nice to meet you—” the moment their hands touched, not a second lasting enough for Jay to squeeze, Heeseung ripped his hand away lightning fast, as if the mere touch set his hand ablaze. But it wasn’t his hand hurting.

He yelped, hands clasping his neck and Sunghoon didn’t have the time to react to that because Jay’s doing exactly the same thing beside him, doubling over with a groan while clenching his stomach.

“What—”

“Kei—hyung fuck, that burns! What’s—” Heeseung complaint, eyes going glassy alarmingly quick and Kei quickly aided him, asking him where did it hurt.

“My neck...” Kei had made quick work of pulling down the turtleneck to check his neck, almost ripping it off from how worried he was. Sunghoon turned to Jay, hand comforting him on his hunched back.

“Jay, what’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.

Jay groaned in response, rubbing at the left side of his tummy and face contorted in slight pain and what seemed like confusion.

“It hurts,” he had said, sounding distant.

“Where does it hurt? Tell me.”

“It feels like—it feels like...” Jay trailed off, slowly lifting his face up to look at the two in front of him, particularly at Heeseung.

A gasp at the opposite side of the table gained Sunghoon’s attention. Turning his focus to the two, his concern skyrocketed at the frozen look taking place at Kei’s face, frozen in his seat.

“Hyung, what’s wrong?” Sunghoon asked urgently, hand still massaging Jay’s back.

“Erm,” Kei’s only reply, eyes fixed on a spot at Heeseung’s neck. Heeseung ultimately freaked out at the lack of response and unconsciously bared his neck more, his panic rising.

“What, what is it? Did something bite me?” he was almost close to yelling at this point.

“...Park Jay,” the said male looked up at the mention of his name, eyes a bit hazy and Sunghoon was suddenly hit with some sense of familiarity. Like this had happened before.

A sense of déjà vu.

“On your neck.”

Sunghoon’s heart fell somewhere at the pit of his chest. Heeseung looked at the taller male, confused. The tears were gone at this point, but the burn was still evident in his eyes.

“Huh?”

“I’ve never thought I would get to see something like this here, but, dude...” Kei said in disbelief, placing ginger hands on Heeseung’s neck and shoulder and gently shifting him around, showing the pair what he had been seeing.

Sunghoon and Jay watched with wide bewildered eyes when they tunnelled on the watery ink that had settled on the skin of Heeseung’s bared neck, about an inch below his jugular and written horizontally to his jawline.

_Park Jay._ Engraved on Heeseung’s pale skin. A beautiful black and bold cursive with the Y’s tail curling downwards to the J. An exact replicate of Sunghoon's soulmark.

Calming Heeseung down proved to be rather difficult labour, the young man hinting on hyperventilation in his seat, fanning at the base of his neck with Kei trying to comfort him by stroking his head and shoulders.

Jay and Sunghoon, on the other hand, had been so deadly silent and unperturbed at their spots, it was alarming to Kei because the Park couple is anything _but_ a quiet couple.

“Hey, guys, you okay?” Kei asks, exasperated, as Heeseung had seemed to collect his shit and was then furiously chugging down 2 glasses of cold water.

The couple looked straight into his soul and he cowered under their gazes.

“Oh, we’re fine,” Jay blinked robotically, the previous cloud in his eyes clarified into a clearer stare.

“Just. Thinking.”

Underneath the table, his hand crept to find Sunghoon’s slightly colder hand to intertwine their fingers, squeezing slightly in a silent consolation of ‘ _it’s okay, it’s gonna be fine, everything’s fine,_ we’re _fine”._

Sunghoon glanced at him, at Jay’s other hand that was cupping his left pelvis, pursing his lips tightly.

They had been scared, a bit, to take that simple 2 seconds peek of his hip to confirm whether it’s true that Heeseung, a total stranger that they had just met in less than an hour, is Jay’s soulmate, who has had a soulmate of his own for 3 years then.

They knew they should, but Jay just couldn’t bring himself to at the moment.

“Jay, you wanna go to the restroom?” Sunghoon asked softly, stroking a thumb over the hills of his knuckles.

Heeseung cast a look at the two telepathically conversing with each other, guilt washing over his face like violent waves and he stood up abruptly, unintentionally gaining their attention.

“You know, I think I’m running late,” he said quickly, gathering his wallet and jacket wedged between him and Kei, who looked up at him in confusion. “Late for what? I thought you said you’re free the whole day.”

“I forgot I have...replacement class at 3.”

Sunghoon glanced at the clock wall perched at the wall adjacent to them. It was 20 minutes past 3 in the evening.

“Heeseung—”

“See ya. Bye!”

Up and away he went, almost toppling over his small feet in his haste of leaving the restaurant like he’s been chased by a mafia gang.

Kei had flopped against the backrest, looking like he’s trying to blend in with the maroon synthetic leather and groaned in his palms. Sunghoon felt a bit bad for him and himself, for understandable reasons.

“Oh my god, I never thought it would end up like this. I’m so sorry, guys.”

“Why’re you sorry?” Jay managed meekly, swallowing a lump that he didn’t realize was there in his throat. “There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

“I never thought I would get to see real-life polygamy soulmates right in front of my eyes,” Kei stated, frowning afterwards when Sunghoon visibly flinched at the term.

Polygamy soulmates. It's going to take a while for that to sink in their heads.

“Wait, did you even check?”

Jay hesitated. “…no.”

“Dude! Do it now. Just to make sure. Because if it is...” Kei was pouting sadly at that point, eyes casted downwards to hide the worriedness in there.

Before Jay could say anything back, Sunghoon had rolled his eyes, out of annoyance or impatience, he didn’t recall, but he remembered grasping the hem of Jay’s shirt and lifting it up to his chest, ignoring Jay’s angry ‘hey!” and the fact that they were in a restaurant half-filled with customers at lunch break.

Kei’s jaw dropped, Sunghoon’s eyes couldn’t possibly go any bigger than they did now and Jay shakily looked down, at the pretty impressive black ink of name burnt to the skin of somewhere on his left belly, right above the bone of his left pelvis.

_Lee Heeseung_ , italic and thin compared to Jay’s bold on Heeseung’s neck.

Two days after, after much needed consulting and asking around (and hella lot of booze and hammering), Sunghoon and Jay sat down in the middle of their living room, huddled up in a sea of blankets and pillows, the TV playing numbly in front of them, the lone screen of Jay’s phone glaring up at their blank faces.

“Should you...” Jay offered, nudging the phone towards Sunghoon, who scowled at him and pushed the gadget back to his face.

“Hello. I’m not the one with his name on my hip. You call him.”

“But Sunghoonieee,” the boy whined, but Sunghoon bit his inner cheek and stood his ground.

“No. _You_ call. He’s your,” he sighed, willing the pin of pain in his heart to go away at what he’s about to acknowledge. “Soulmate. He's your soulmate, Jay.”

Jay’s eyes softened at him, clenching his hand over the blankets. “We’ll work this out.”

“Sure.”

The first call got sent straight into the mailbox. Jay had clearly looked frustrated by that but Sunghoon insisted him to call Heeseung back. So after another 3, insisting and nerve-wracking calls, the phonecall finally got picked up, Heeseung’s grouse and hoarse voice greeting them loud like a screeching cat as Jay had set the speaker on.

“…hellooo....” the sound of lips smacking against each other. Jay fought back a blush.

“H-hi. Hyung, it’s me. Erm, Jay.”

"Hmm...Jay?"

"Jay. Jongseong. Kei's friend."

There’s a prolonged silence at the other end of the line, Jay jittering at the legs again and Sunghoon biting down on his fingernail. Muffled shuffling noises bled out.

The seconds it took for Heeseung to response to them had Sunghoon seriously rethinking their choice of reaching out to him, the older might even slam the phone down on them, until the older finally cleared his throat, replied, “Jay-ssi. Hi! Hey, what’s up?”


	2. surprise surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Sunghoon! Can you believe your boyfriend over here? He’s been complaining bout’ me being indecisive about movies but he’s the one who kept rejecting my movie picks!” he vehemently complains, staring up at Sunghoon with those familiar googly eyes that on more occasion would get the both of them weak on the knees.
> 
> “That’s because you kept suggesting horror movies,” Jay argues with clenched teeth, coming up behind him to peel him away from the chuckling Sunghoon. “Unless you’re comfortable being my makeshift bolster for the next whole week, I suggest you keep to action themes.”

“Have you swept the dust in Heeseung hyung’s room? I need to mop the floor afterwards,” Sunghoon asks as he digs out a mop and a bucket out of the storage, sneezing aggressively to the side at the clouds of dust flying into his face from knocking into empty glassware boxes.

“In a minute!” Jay says somewhere in the kitchen, probably taking out the trash through the backdoor.

They’re so busy at the moment, clearing out and cleaning the unoccupied room of their flat. It took them almost half of the whole day in taking out the things residing in it (mostly an inch of dust, mostly Jay’s broken GD albums records and Sunghoon’s massive old collection of sweaters which had him almost tearing up when Jay stuffed them into the ‘Give Away’ boxes).

They kept the ceiling-high wardrobe and the single bed original. But they had the study table, chair and curtains replaced because “holy shit since when did these things can get rotten from just being untouched??”

Jay has been looking forward to the arrival of the oldest, has been jittering at his knees throughout the whole hours of cleaning and waiting. To be frank, Sunghoon has not seen Jay been so excited over something in a while, so it’s a little endearing to see him like this.

Well, he is about to live with his soulmate. _Other_ soulmate. The excitement is to be expected. 

Sunghoon honestly doesn’t know if he could say the same, though.

The moment the doorbell rings, Jay jumps up from where he’s sat at lightning fast, almost toppling over his own toes from the imbalance. Sunghoon chuckles, pats him at the back while muttering “Slow down, it’s not like he’s going anywhere.”

Jay seems oblivious to that though, if him swinging open the door is anything to go by. Heeseung’s reaction to the rattling of the door has Sunghoon almost cracking up.

“ _Woah_ —hi,” Heeseung breathes out, hands to his chest and one foot slowly lowering down to the floor after having been jolted up in the air just now at Jay’s abruptness.

“Ah, sorry for scaring you,” Jay smiles sheepishly. Heeseung gives him a commiserating wave. There is already some stuff he brought up along; luggage twice his size, two large sling bags and—oh, the famous strawberry plushie. It’s twice Heeseung’s head in size, sitting idly on his luggage.

“Hyung, are these your only stuff?” Sunghoon asks, wide-eyed.

“Pfft. No. Of course not. I’ll be bringing the rest from my old place little by little. I still have some work left that needed to be sorted out there in the whole week, so...” Heeseung scratches at his sideburn. He looks so out of place. If they don’t know any better, they would have thought Heeseung wants to be anywhere but there.

“Ouh. Alright. Just tell us when you’re gonna get them. We’ll help you,” Jay says with finality, takes the luggage and reaches out for one of the bags.

“No no, it’s fine...” Heeseung doesn’t get to protest much since Sunghoon has two of the bags in his hands already, urging Jay to go inside first. He leads Heeseung inside with a gentle shove to his side by the bag, closing the door with a kick of his heel.

“Nonsense. You live with us now, so of course you can get as much help as you can from us,” Sunghoon nudges him forward ahead to follow Jay.

“Come on. We’ll show you your room,” Jay says, grinning, thin lips stretching into his trademark polish grin.

Heeseung’s playing it off cool already, Sunghoon can tell. But Jay, asides from his boisterous laughter and shrieks and sometimes mind-boggling ideas, he is also effortlessly handsome, a mere smile of his and his eloquence capable of swooning even the toughest of their lecturer’s heart when it comes to begging for extra time for their course’s tests. The pros of being a class representative.

Sunghoon is proud to say that he’s one of the very few people that doesn’t get affected by this, having known and dealt with it on a daily basis for the past years first-handedly.

Heeseung is far from his level, for now, considering the pink tint at the tips of his ears from just a smile.

The effects of Park Jay.

When Jay pushes the door open and steps aside to let Heeseung take a look, the look of surprise on his face is assuring enough for the couple that they at least had hit the spot with Heeseung’s bedroom exterior ambience.

“Oh wow,” he breathes out, mouth agape in awe. “Have the walls always been this colour? Wow, it’s so pretty.”

“It was originally baby blue when we got here. But a few months ago, Sunghoon got bored with it and tried the colour for the fun of it. Turns out, it didn’t look so bad,” Jay replies with nonchalance, earning an elbowing at the ribs from Sunghoon.

“I am a better aesthetic than you are, Mr. Leather Jacket and Leopard prints.”

“As if, Mr. Combat boots.”

Heeseung steps inside, ultimately ignoring the two’s bickering in favour of taking in the sight of the room and the large portrait-style window facing the streets. The whole landscape of quarter of the neighbourhood laid wide and even. Considering their 7th floor high flat and the even layout of 2-stories houses the neighbouring has had in prefer over the last decades, Heeseung will be granted with the fine scenery of the sunset.

“I love sunset hues. And look at the high ceiling. I’m gonna freeze my skinny ass off in winter,” he exclaims, openly admiring the smooth work of mellow sunset shade of the wall, the light grey curtains complementing the painting job of Sunghoon’s hard work a few months prior.

The couple look at each other at the last statement, shares a look and giggle, earning a sheepish look from the oldest.

“Ah, sorry. I’m a bit runny with my mouth. Kei hyung said it’s a nasty habit but I couldn’t help it,” he scratches his sideburn, another habit that the others had concluded by now as him just being shy.

How endearing.

“Hah. You should see Jay when we’re playing the Shark Bite toys,” Sunghoon sets down the duffel bags beside the wardrobe, avoiding a kick aimed at his butt from the wounded boy. “Keeps cursing like a sailor with that small mouth of his.”

“Try having a shark toy with a mouth the size of your face swallowing your whole hand. See if that’ll help you empathize with me,” Jay pouts away, gliding the luggage towards the centre where Heeseung is regarding them with amusement.

“Is this a normal thing between couples? Cat fights?” he asks with a quirk to one of his eyebrows, slick lips pulled up in a cheeky smile. Jay blinks at the expression, stunned.

Damn, Heeseung is attractive.

“I guess. Kei hyung said we’re the human embodiment of Tom and Jerry,” Jay replies, before visibly deflating at the potential implication underlying Heeseung’s question. “Sorry, we’re annoying, aren’t we?”

Heeseung hums, mimes thinking over the situation and crossing his arms over his chest with one hand rubbing his chin. Sunghoon holds back a smile at the sight

They had worried a bit on how Heeseung will open up to them considering where the three of them stands at this point, adding it up to them being complete strangers until just two weeks ago and Jay already having Sunghoon before Heeseung.

Looking at how the older is already being a tease on Jay in less than 10 minutes, it looks like they’ll hit it off just fine.

“I don’t know. It’ll depend on how you’ll treat me, now, won’t we?” he says, a mischievous glint to his eyes despite his words and Sunghoon can tell at this point, Jay is falling.

The first few nights Heeseung officially starts living there, the tension was stretched over so thick in the air it was almost tangible. Sunghoon had to watch, painfully, as the two blockheads dance around each other, gliding and hovering touches and lingering eyes as they pass by each other like two pining teenage scholars.

Sunghoon can’t recall the time when he and Jay first discovered their soulmarks. What he _does_ clearly remember is how the both of them couldn’t _stand_ parting from each other, like literally, hips attached 24/7 and not a day seen without their hands interlocked because they couldn’t get enough, drinking in each other’s body contacts and affections like it were their only meal for the day.

He wonders how Heeseung would survive if this persists for longer. But thank god Jay's a straight shooter.

The last straw was probably when he and Sunghoon were just chilling on the sofa, watching some random movie one of their friends had suggested. Heeseung was going back and forth from his room to the kitchen, sometimes for a snack, then a drink. Along that time, both of them managed to pick it up as Heeseung trying to mingle with them, but chickened out of there right before Jay could ask him.

Eventually, Jay snapped. He discreetly scooted towards the middle of the sofa, stirring Sunghoon a little towards the side to make room for his left. Sunghoon had cast him a questioning look, to which Jay lifted up a finger to his lips, shushing him.

As they expected, Heeseung marched out of his bedroom, passing by the back of the sofa, unsuspecting. Just as he’s gone past Jay’s head, Jay’s hands shot out to grip his elbow, startling him.

“Hyung, come on. You look like you could use a break from all that walking,” Jay ignored his protests, pulling Heeseung down insistently that Heeseung slumped all over him. Jay rearranged their position so that Heeseung fit underneath his arm and head just nice, another arm curled around Sunghoon’s elbow.

“This feels nice,” Jay commented once Heeseung finally stayed put, his chin jutting into the crown of Heeseung’s head as he spoke. Sunghoon peeked, noticed Heeseung trying to hide his blush behind his hand.

Then they worked their way smoothly from there.

Heeseung, in overall, is such a good company to have around that they forgot, once in a while, that he’s only been there for only two weeks, give or take. Heeseung is a human bat, always wide awake at the witch’s hour to go over his load of works and assignment. It’s a blessing for him that for this semester, most of his classes start the earliest at 10 in the morning, so he has more than enough hours to crash on after the last pull of the sunrise from the horizon.

This is where he comes in super helpful, knocking on their room, voice thick and slurry from sleep, in the morning with a loud “Sunghoon, Jay. It’s 7 already. Get your bums up,”.

Sometimes Sunghoon or Jay would come home, worn down to the bone and starving and going through their fried brain on what to stuff them full before hitting the bed, just to be pleasantly surprised with the sight of fried kimchi rice or jjajangmyeon on the table (take-outs because Heeseung, like Sunghoon, is shit at cooking), Heeseung already working on the omelettes in that ridiculous pink apron Jay’s mom had given to him.

(“Hyung, what is that?” Jay pointed at a black lump on a plate beside the stove. Heeseung was trying to flip the omelette without getting some on the counter, lips jutting out in concentration.

“Huh? Oh, that. Don’t touch that. I got a phone call just now when I was making it and—”

Heeseung glances to him, just in time for Jay to shove a forkful of the burnt debacle. Instantly, his eyes water.

“Yah, Jongseong!” Heeseung shrieked in horror, Jay’s lips wobble. “Yah YAH, SPIT IT OUT RIGHT NOW—”)

The couple is usually tidy and organized with their belongings so there’s not much mess to clear up on a daily basis. But there are days when it feels like the sun is dragging on too long or they just want to be declared temporarily dead to the world to care for anything other than their beauty sleep. Along the way, Sunghoon picked out one very striking similarity between Jay and Heeseung: they're both unexceptionally slothful when they don't get at least 4 hours of sleep.

One time, Sunghoon had woken up late in the morning, bleary-eyed and bloodshot from an all-nighter, to piled dirty laundry and dishes in the sink with the trashes full in the bin. There are books and lecture notes astray on their coffee table and on the floor, some empty mugs and Monster cans here and there.

And that’s when he gets on a full mother’s mode.

“Jay-ah. Heeseung hyung. Come here, please,” he had called out loud, pinching the bridge of his nose, the faintest of a headache teasing at his nerves from those 3 cups of latte coffee he had consumed last night.

At the tone of his voice, Jay had jack-knifed into a sitting position dead fast. In Heeseung's room, Heeseung raised his face from the pillow with puffy eyes, alarmed as well as the other. They telepathically communicate with each other, blinking in a stupor as their brains, hazy with sleep, tried to catch up to the creeping ominous feeling—before another loud, almost snappy “Jay, Heeseung hyung, get over here!” had them tumbling out of their bed, scrambling out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where Sunghoon was waiting impatiently.

Long story short, they got a half an hour worth of nagging from him while they all worked around each other to finish up the chores and tidy up, the usual 3 hours taken to clean up the entire flat including sweeping the floor, laundry, doing the dishes and moping, had been incredibly reduced to less than 2 hours in regards to Sunghoon's effective managing and work division.

When they get too jaded to even go take that short 5 minutes drive to the cinema, Heeseung would drag them out, even into the crisp cold night, in their thick padded jackets and scarfs, to walk around the neighbourhood, or just hang out at the park. Just for the heck of it.

“I like walking in the night more than during the day,” he said offhandedly during one of their now-regular night walks, the tip of his nose tinted pink and lips a pale shade of purple from the cold. Sunghoon had learned long before then that Heeseung is not that impervious to cold like the two of them, always jumpy on his toes and fingers numb even when it’s only 18 degrees.

Somewhere along the way, Jay would, without fail, manoeuvred himself around Heeseung so that Heeseung would walk in between them. Almost instantly, Heeseung’s hands would link with their’s, icy cold and engulfed in their hot ones, discreetly pulling them closer. “It’s quieter and calmer compared to the hectic of the day.”

This exceeds even Sunghoon’s and Jay’s expectation, how easily they fall into this routine where Heeseung is a constant in their life. In one way or another, Heeseung had slowly filled in the gaps that they never knew they’ve had until he was there.

Jay has always been such a bubbly and bright person, practically radiating energy and a welcoming ease with just that comforting smile of his or better, his laughter that always seems to come out in the wrong time. But after Heeseung, he becomes a bit more, lovely. In an essence.

Or maybe Sunghoon witnessing Jay’s affection for the older as a third person is a completely new concept for him that he is still wrapping his head around. Jay would casually come up from behind Heeseung and surprises him with a backhug. Sometimes, he would randomly ask for a head-petting from Heeseung who would more than glad do the favor, would take up any chances he can get to get as close as he could to Heeseung even if it’s such an affectionate gestures like suddenly plopping his head on Heeseung’s unoccupied lap when they’re watching movies on Netflix, or simply brushing Heeseung’s long strands of hair in the morning when the older is too sleepy to even notice the mess he had made out of his hair during his slumber.

It should feel wrong, right? Sunghoon should be fuming with jealousy at this point, shouldn’t he? Witnessing the affections that were usually reserved only for him are now being showered all over this other man who was a complete stranger to them a few months ago. But he isn’t.

Instead, he’s left dumbfounded and confused.

It’s a little past 8 in the night by the time Sunghoon comes home, weary down to the bones from the straight 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. classes, followed by his group’s discussion meeting on their assignment due weekends.

“I’m home,” he drawls out as he pushes past the door. Heavy footsteps stomp towards him and when he looks up from toeing his shoes off, he is attacked with a bear hug from Heeseung.

“Sunghoon! Can you believe your boyfriend over here? He’s been complaining bout’ me being indecisive about movies but _he’s_ the one who kept rejecting my movie picks!” he vehemently complains, staring up at Sunghoon with those familiar googly eyes that on more occasion, ceaselessly get the both of them weak on the knees.

“That’s because you kept suggesting horror movies,” Jay argues with clenched teeth, coming up behind him to peel him away from the chuckling Sunghoon. “Unless you’re comfortable being my makeshift bolster for the next week, I suggest you keep to action themes.”

He squints his eyes, profound mischief in his eyes as he playfully glares down at Heeseung. Heeseung squints back at him. “Or is that really what you’ve been aiming for, huh hyung?”

Heeseung’s cheeks colour at the implication, sputtering incoherently at the coy look Jay shoots at him before going back for a hug from Sunghoon, Sunghoon obediently opening his arms to welcome his tinier frame to fit into.

“How bold,” Heeseung sticks his tongue out at Jay, so childlike. “And come on, Sunghoon! Help a hyung out.”

“Nope. You two settle this while I take a shower,” Heeseung proceeds to whine before being dragged over to the living room by Jay, Sunghoon cackling at the sight.

It’s become a bit of a routine now, coming home to an attack of hugs and skinship initiated by Heeseung whenever the older is first to come home.

The first time he did it, Jay almost lost his shit, squealing and coddling Heeseung after realizing that this is what he’ll come home to every day for the rest of his life.

Sunghoon, on the other hand, had frozen still so stiffly that Heeseung had thought he crossed some kind of an invisible boundary, until Sunghoon pulled him back, hesitance tight in his veins but longing in his eyes. “No no, come back. It’s okay, it’s nice. Do that again.”

Not that both of them are unfamiliar to such intimate gestures and affections; they’ve been catering just that to each other over the past 3 years. But receiving it from someone other than themselves was something that needs more than just time to get the hang of it.

But this is Heeseung, Jay’s soulmate. Sunghoon figured it would be uncomfortable initially, or at least there’s a little reluctance to the amount of compromising he’s willing to make to get used to Heeseung hogging up Jay from him.

But it doesn’t. There was no hesitation at all, as if his body and subconscious mind had foresight of its own and was ready to hand in everything to Heeseung like they did to Jay, back when his name popped up on Jay’s skin.

It unnerves Sunghoon a little, how easily he opens up to Heeseung, how accepting he is despite Heeseung being Jay’s soulmate, not his. Not to the both of them. Entitled to Jay and Jay alone.

Do such things exist, Sunghoon ponders, shucking out of his clothes with deliberate movements, his thoughts in a bundle of mishappen knots. Heeseung and Jay are still getting over what movies to watch in the living room, the sound of them quarrelling muffled by the bathroom’s door.

Would it be possible to have that kind of dynamic in a relationship? That goes around in full circle in both ways, between three people at that? Do soulmates exist for that too?

He shakes his head. Ridiculous. The hell he's doing getting all these hypotheses? 

“Hurry up and pick already,” Heeseung complains, a small pout sitting on his lips as he stares at the screen of their TV, at the endless display of lists Jay is currently scrolling through. They’re slumped heavily on the couch, head to head, exhausted from the bickering (also, it was exam weeks, they’ve been on each other’s throats because of it, damn).

“I’m trying but your dedication to gore-themed movies bug me,” Jay says, shifting his head a bit higher so that Heeseung’s head would rest comfortably against his temple.

“That one is nice,” Heeseung points at one. Jay gives him a dirty look.

“How bout’ we pick something a little lighter.”

“But this _is_ light.”

“How the hell would you call _Ju’on_ _light_? That was basically every 90s 20s kids' childhood nightmares,” Jay retorts.

“YOUR childhood nightmare, this is mild compared to _Siccin_ —”

“ _Siccin_ was a child of hell, oh my _god_ —” Jay turns to retort, then realizes their foreheads were quite practically against each other. Heeseung notices this belatedly when he glances up, any retaliation dying on the tip of his tongue.

The startling proximity renders them both quiet. Jay has always think how enormous and bright Heeseung’s eyes are, round with the tiniest sharp edges to them that gives him the impression of an observant fox. Sly and coy. Up this close, he could see his own reflection in his pupils.

Heeseung drops his gaze to his hands, fiddling with the hem of his hoodie. Like a shy deer, too scared to lean closer, to expectant to pull away.

“Then you choose something,” he trails off, lifting his face up just in time for Jay to duck down to sneak a kiss.

A quick press of the lips, nothing more, nothing less. Very briefly that it took a moment for Heeseung to realize what just happened.

He gawks at Jay, frozen. Jay purses his lips in consideration, gauging his reaction.

When Heeseung doesn’t reply, Jay takes it as a chance and sweeps down for another one. This time, Heeseung lets out a constricted yelp, hand shooting up to his face in surprise.

Jay proceeds to choose a movie like the kisses never happened, a satisfactory pout hanging off his lips with the tips of his ears dusting the barest of pink.

From the crack of the bathroom’s door, Sunghoon witnesses the whole ordeal unfolds, hand midway from towelling his wet hair. A mixed feeling tangling in his chest.

Peculiar. He finds himself couldn’t argue or hate the scene, instead feels strangely warm and fuzzy. He gets even more confused when he finds himself wanting to be there with them, hands cupping Heeseung's face and lips kissing his smile away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i added an extra chapter cuz halfway through I realized IT WAS TOO LONG ASDFHGJGKL  
> and oh gosh thank you for lovely response! i seriously didn't expect it so thank you very much TTTT


	3. consulting the pda couple aka yeonjuniez

“How did you guys felt when you first found out you guys were soulmates?” Sunghoon asks over a mouthful of chicken bites.

“Honestly,” Yeonjun chews on his drumstick, a look of past solemn and morose clouding his blank face. “I hated his gut.”

“Hey!” Hueningkai looks at him, scandalized. “You threw your stupid strawberry milk all over me when we first touched each other. I had to down my uniform in 3 tubes of detergent to get rid of the smell and the colour.”

“Oh honey, that’s cuz’ you flipped the shit outta me that time, I couldn’t help it,” Yeonjun apologizes dryly while pinching Hueningkai’s pout, gently shaking his lips side to side.

“What,” Sunghoon frowns.

“We were always at each other’s throat ever since sophomore year in high school. That shitshow lasted for a year something before he and I finally cracked and was about to punch each other in the faces until I grabbed him at the collar and,” Yeonjun shrugs, the action shifts his oversized v-neck shirt to ride down his right shoulder, exposing the last tail of Hueningkai’s impressive cursive name, nicely lining above the bone of his collarbone.

Sunghoon’s eyes go down to glance there for a beat before quickly shifting back up, focusing on the splatter of freckles across Yeonjun’s cheekbones and the bridge of his nose. Hueningkai had once fondly depicted a particularly big one right at the centre of his lower eyelid, going off about how pretty it is and it brings out the ebony of his eyes, when Yeonjun left them alone to fetch more sugar for his coffee during one lunch break.

“Shit went down the drain that day. Took us the whole month to finally get our shit together and talk it out. Also because of the fact that we would be dying for the next 2 months if that went on any longer. So nowww,” Yeonjun leans his head against Hueningkai’s, grabbing his chin and cheeks in between his index finger and thumb, grinning widely. “We’re your most common gross PDA couple you could ever get.”

“Aww. That’s cute.”

“No, it’s horrible,” Hueningkai reiterates, swatting at the older’s hand from his face to pinch Yeonjun’s cheeks instead, clenching his teeth. “He’ll never give me enough morning kisses unless I drag him out for hot chocolate or there’s someone to witness how gross we are.”

Yeonjun rolls his eyes, cheeks bunched up in Hueningkai’s palms and lips moving like gasping fishes whenever he talks. “There will never be enough kisses in the world to sate your hunger, to be very frank.”

“By the way, how are things going with you and Jay,” Hueningkai pauses in his administration, still squishing Yeonjun’s cheeks together. “And about Jay’s other soulmate. What is that all about, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Sunghoon sips on his strawberry smoothies mindlessly. “Everything’s well. Heeseungie hyung is real cute and lovely, though he can be malice at times and he’s like your common feline. Sometimes he hates skinship. Sometimes he’ll go full blown on it. They both went along real fine.”

Yeonjun blinks from sipping his latte coffee, glancing a look at Hueningkai before opening his mouth. “How about you and Heeseung. Everything alright?”

“Everything’s alright,” Sunghoon replies almost robotically, staring distantly at his smoothies, condensation pooling at the base before he frowns. “Actually, I think something’s wrong with me.”

“What is?”

“I’m Jay’s soulmate and lover. Has been for 3 years already. I love him very much and somehow, out of twisted fate spin-off, someone popped up and turned out to be his soulmate too. I should be happy for him, knowing that I can’t do anything about it. He’s got Jay’s name on his fucking neck for the world to see, for fuck’s sake. But I’m obliged to have some sort of resentment for this guy, you know? Jealousy or hatred. That should be the normal way, you get me? Like, I have to even, considering Jay and I’ve been together for that long yet—”

Sunghoon stops for a moment to take a deep breath, Yeonjun abandoning his drink in favour of listening to Sunghoon pouring out his heart to them both. Hueningkai has resorted to nursing his own drink quietly as his eyes are glued to Sunghoon who’s getting redder and redder as time goes by with his ranting.

“Yet...” Sunghoon seems to be at lost for word. Yeonjun rests his cheek in his palm, blueish red from Hueningkai’s crabby pinch, regards Sunghoon with a soft understanding look.

“Yet you don’t feel any resentment,” Yeonjun helpfully fills him in. Sunghoon looks at them both with mental exhaustion, slowly nodding afterwards.

“Not an ounce,” Sunghoon admits, looking down at his finger clasped around his drink. His fingers are cold from being pressed up to the cold smoothie but he needs something to keep him distracted for the moment. “Instead, I feel like I’m obliged to feel happy, like it’s not wrong. I don’t know how to explain it, but I feel like I’m empty yet at the same time, I feel full. Like. He’s there so suddenly yet he doesn’t feel out of place. I feel like he belongs here. like a goddamn missing puzzle. With Jay.”

“With you guys,” Hueningkai adds, but there is an uncertain lift to his sentences and Sunghoon finds himself unable to agree or reject that statement.

“But he’s Jay’s soulmate. Not mine. I’m happy, I find, but it’s not that fulfilling. It’s not enough, for me. Like there’s something missing and I don’t know what it is. Do I even make sense to you?”

Yeonjun regards him with a long intense stare, one that he usually has reserved for interpreting a dog’s reaction to his cat’s impersonification or on one of Hueningkai’s quirks. Then he says, “It makes sense. If it makes you feel better, Hueningkai got really sick in our earlier relationship because apparently I wasn’t giving him enough.”

“Hey, I thought we agreed that that wasn’t your fault,” Hueningkai suddenly argues, turning to face Yeonjun bodily, drink abandoned.

“I know, babe, I’m just making an analogy,” Yeonjun is quick to calm him down, hands coming up to place flat over his chest. “Don’t be upset. I can’t smooch your pout away in front of our best friend here, okay.”

“Erm. You know, you don’t have to tell me anything. It’s already a bit too much that you guys had to listen to my troubles like this,” Sunghoon offers, guilt starting to weigh on him.

Yeonjun shakes his head in dismissal, gives Hueningkai a pointed look long enough that the younger finally submitted to his discreet request, with a groan. “Ergh, fine. I hate when you give me that look.”

He starts off with a long-designed sigh. “When we started dating, like _really_ dating after our names popped up, we weren’t really aware of the implication of the ‘bond’s tie’. How hard or easy it is to maintain it, to calibrate our own needs. This is supposed to be generally known but do you know what a bond’s tie means?”

A shake of the head. Hueningkai continues. “Well basically a bond’s tie is what you could consider as the very thing that keeps soulmates alive and well. Some kind of an invisible telepathic connection between them. You could imagine two internet connections and the signals being sent and received between them. If one gets cut off, it means it’s dying. The other end of the receiver will end up dying out together eventually from the lost connection. Over time.”

Sunghoon looks a bit too lost at the explanation for someone who’s had and lived with a soulmate for over 3 years. “So basically saying your soulmate holds your life, and vice versa.”

“Exactly.”

Honestly, that’s a little terrifying.

“Then what about you getting sick? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Before Hueningkai could supply him on that, Yeonjun interjects eloquently. “Kai almost kicked his bucket because he refused to tell me that all the affection and body contacts that I was giving to him weren’t enough to sate him.”

Silence stretches out like hot cheese between them. Sunghoon watches as Hueningkai tries downing the rest of his drink without choking on it.

“…so when you said there are not enough kisses in the world that could sate him.”

“I meant literally,” Yeonjun chances a glance towards Hueningkai, gauging his reaction but the younger doesn’t say anything, just looks straight ahead behind Sunghoon’s head as if there’s a giant dragon manifesting right behind him as they speak. “Do you want details?”

“Do I want to know?”

“I’ll keep it PG,” Hueningkai makes a sound akin to an irritated racoon.

“To put it simply, Hueningkai and I are generally one of the notoriously affectionate people known in campus, you know this. Everybody knows this. So how the _bloody_ hell was I supposed to know that all the affection and love I had been showering him with supposedly weren’t enough at all? Like, I had genuinely thought that we were both balancing each other just fine, that it was enough, but clearly it wasn’t. By the time I realized it, he blackout and got sent to the hospital for an intensive care treatment. He got into a coma for 4 days straight. The fucker almost gave me a heart attack every single night after that.”

Sunghoon alternates his gazes between the guilty Hueningkai and an alarmingly calm Yeonjun. “And did you know what it takes to boost him up to full health and back on his feet? Some good ol’ cuddles and rolling in the bed 24/7 for 3 whole weeks.”

Hueningkai’s ears fume red at the tips. Sunghoon squawks. “I’m not joking. 6 months into our relationship, not _once_ had he ever told me that he needed more than just a single round. Near death experience finally got him enough balls to _ask_ —”

“That’s enough from you,” Hueningkai finally saves Sunghoon from the audacity by cupping Yeonjun’s mouth firmly with his hand, the other tugging him tight to his side to squish him from spewing out more unnecessary insights into their sex feuds. “You little vixen. You could have left out those parts and he would have understood just fine.”

“I could live it down if you had stopped at the rolling in bed,” Sunghoon adds, ears still feeling too warm to his liking.

“The point I was trying to tell you,” Yeonjun finally manages to wrench free from Hueningkai’s grip (he licked Hueningkai’s palm, Sunghoon had sworn to secrecy in his heart) “is you might fell somewhere along Hueningkai’s scale. Which is quite high, by the way. Do you get how it works now?”

“I…think I have an inkling. But if it’s as serious as you guys had said, shouldn’t I be seeing anyone about it?”

“If you’re referring to an expert, then of course! Go get some more clarification of where you stand. This is your health we’re talking about.”

The revelation isn’t as dramatic as how Yeonjun had unintentionally let it on, but it’s accurate and fits the other’s explanation enough.

One look at his test result had the doctor’s eyebrows racking high up to her hairline, Sunghoon was almost spooked by the reaction.

Basically this ‘bond’s tie’ had a standardized scale established worldwide, like the rest of the standardized normalcy in the medicine world. The higher you are up the scale, the more of your soulmate’s affection and body contacts you need to feed off. The lower you are on the scale, the lesser their need for any of those contacts to live an adequately healthy life.

To put it simply, Sunghoon’s tests came out higher than the average. It had tilted off slightly over 80 something, a term he hasn’t familiarize himself with even after his consultant had explained to him in full details about where he stands at the point, especially given the circumstance he’s in.

“Occasional headaches, body sores, reducing appetites. It’s a common behaviour when you lack contacts with your soulmate.”

But that’s the thing, Jay never gave him less. Nothing much has changed in their relationship asides Heeseung. He tells the doctor this but with filtered words.

“Most probably because your soulmate, as you had stated, had been giving you the right amount of body contacts to keep you up fit all those years. But now that he’s had another soulmate, the balance had started to shift and tipped off its equilibrium. And from the test results, it seemed you are the one most likely affected by this dynamic.”

“For the next check-up, you should bring your soulmate with you, run some tests with him and his other,” the doctor pauses in her administration, careful in the indirect way she’s establishing Sunghoon’s and Jay’s status. When Sunghoon shows no ill reaction, she continues. “Soulmate. You should bring them both with you so we could figure out the right calibre among you three.”

“Sure.”

“I’ll be honest with you, Sunghoon-ssi. This is quite literally the first time we’ve met someone with two soulmates. I mean, indirectly. We’ve heard of it coming from somewhere in middle East but even then it had been very few of them. Are you sure you don’t have his name on you, too?”

“Who, Jay?”

“His other soulmate.”

Sunghoon is going to say ‘no’ instinctively, but his mouth parts open like he’s lost for words.

It is painfully obvious it never occurred to him the chances of having Heeseung’s name on him before this. At his prolonged silence, the doctor gives him a commiserating nod. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’ then?”

“…yea.”

That whole session, even though it didn’t require any physical energy squeezed out of him, managed to wring him out to the point he’s slumping heavily on the bus ride home, gaze thrown outside of the window as his mind wanders off to home.

Heeseung’s name, on his body. Is that possible? Well, Jay has two as of now and he’s up on his feet and around well, so to say fate runs around doing its thing this way isn’t entirely preposterous, for 3 people to find their way to each other in this enormous world, meant to be together since birth. That’s like a far-fetched dream that Sunghoon doesn't dare enough to grab.

To be able to have Heeseung’s name burnt to his skin by fate, how wonderful would that have been.

“Hyung,” he calls out as soon as he comes through the door. No one answers, the light to their living room and island are on, so he figures one of them would be in their room. He hangs the keys to the keyholder and ruffles his hair on his way to the bathroom, dropping his backpack on the sofa with a dull thud.

“Jay, you’re here?” he calls again, fingers working up the knots on his gelled-up hair. He notices the bathroom door opened with a crack, figuring that there’s no one in there and pushes it open without another thought.

“Arh!”

Heeseung screams, Sunghoon yells in response, hands shooting up in the air in shock. Sunghoon stares, frozen and abashed, yet confused at Heeseung who has his towel awkwardly clutched to his chest, half-sitting on the sink from the scare just now.

“Sunghoon!” Heeseung bursts out loud, yet his bare shoulders hitch up with tight tension like he was doing something illegal until Sunghoon came barrelling through the door. “Knock before you come in! I could have been pooping for all you know.”

Sunghoon outright flushes down to his collarbones, slowly lowering his hands to his side. Heeseung chuckles, straightening himself now that the tension subdues, but stubbornly he kept the towel to his chest.

“Erk, m’ sorry sorry,” Sunghoon apologizes, catches a glimpse of Heeseung’s bare waist and slender body line, curving down nicely into the waistband of his baggy sweatpants. Heeseung notices his stare, looking down at himself before his own face flares up in attention.

Sunghoon almost chokes at the shy flutter of his eyes when he looks back at him, his big eyes gauging his next move. Sunghoon gulps, embarrassed, and briskly gets out, making sure he’s closed the bathroom door shut on his way out.

He’s clearly flustered by that sight, Sunghoon just can’t understand himself sometimes.

When Heeseung is done showering, Sunghoon comes up to him, still mortified from the previous incident yet there’s that familiar persistence in his eyes when he locks eye contact with him.

“Hyung, Jay says he won’t be home till 9 something,” he says.

“Oh, he must be very busy,” Heeseung hangs his towel to dry, his skin a little flushed and tender from the hot shower. Sunghoon kind of wants to place the back of his hand on his neck, see if it looks as hot as it seems.

“I wonder what he’s gonna eat on his way home,” Heeseung ponders. When he turns to Sunghoon, there’s that mischievous glint in those deep black orbs of his that Heeseung has come to learn always meant trouble.

“Wanna try cooking?” Sunghoon suggests. Heeseung gives him a withering glance.

“Haven’t we established this? Jay is the sole owner and only user of the kitchen?”

“Oh come on, he’s not here. By the time he’s here, we should be done with it,” Sunghoon grabs at his hands, twiddling with the tips of Heeseung’s fingers like how he usually would when he’s trying to persuade Heeseung into doing something disastrous with him.

“I set the alarm off the last time I tried making hotteok,” Heeseung reminds him.

“You forgot the stove was on high.”

“And _you_ poured wine straight into piping hot oil,” Heeseung deadpans. Sunghoon throws his hands up in the air.

“I mistook it as oil, okay! We’ll be careful then.”

“We’ll both die and Jay is gonna be sent to jail for negligence.”

Sunghoon slaps himself on the forehead, Heeseung grins.

So they tried making jjajangmyeon because it’s supposed to be simpler than jjigae and they don’t have enough ingredients to make army stew. They are lucky enough that there’s a good chunk of minced meat left from Jay’s spaghetti fiasco three days ago so they don’t have to make a run to the convenience store.

“Erm,” Heeseung turns to Sunghoon blankly looking at the odd shapes of his onions, hands stilling from attempting to cube them.

“What?”

“You should,” Sunghoon schools his face, like he’s holding himself back from sprouting a very sensitive comment. Heeseung appreciates the effort. “Yea. That looks fine. Okay.”

After the vegetables are all successfully chopped up, Sunghoon stir-fries them with Heeseung tight to his side, eyes wide in awe as if he’s never seen such a magnificent occurrence. “Hyung, you’ve cooked before.”

“It was just omelette,” Heeseung yelps when the oil pops, scurrying behind him. “And even then Jay was nice enough to finish them. It was too sweet.”

“Japanese omelette?” Heeseung nods, his chin prodding into Sunghoon’s clavicle.

It’s not until he’s dumped the jjajang paste into the hot oil, Heeseung scrambling to his other side at the mad sizzling of it does the previous chat with the doctor knocks on him.

_“Theoretically, Jay is the one supposed to be largely affected by this because he has two soulmates. On the other hand, Jay is your only soulmate. And yet here you are.”_

Heeseung is pressed up to his back, watching the frying pan with wild interest while clutching onto Sunghoon’s shoulders like he’s a freaking metal shield. The proximity has Sunghoon’s heart thrumming with a faster pace, chest warming up alarmingly so.

It’s like a low hum of content, the warmth spreading thoroughly in his veins, being in Heeseung’s arms like this.

This is scary. It’s scary because he knows what this means, has been experiencing exactly the same thing when he’s with Jay.

“Is it done yet?” Heeseung peeks from his arm. “Should I get the noodles?”

“Yea,” Sunghoon swallows his heart threatening to come up to his throat. He turns the stove off and scoops the fried paste out into a bowl.

Jay should be around in ten minutes or so judging from how eager he sounds in the phone just now when he called, groaning about how he’s so done with his assignments and deadlines. Heeseung places the spoons and forks on the table with unnecessary details, tongue poking out in concentration.

Sunghoon finds it endearing. Something like a burden tugging at his heartstring. “Now, we just have to wait,” Heeseung finishes, perching his elbows on the table and chin burying in his palms. His owlish eyes blink slowly, as if brooding and mind toeing on the edge of sleepy. Sunghoon mimics him.

“You wanna get ice-cream?”

“Huh?” Sunghoon’s eyes drop from the flutter of Heeseung’s eyelashes to his lips, pouty in the way when he’s trying to speak while fighting sleep.

“Ice-cream for—” Heeseung snaps his face up abruptly and suddenly scrunches his nose, lips twisted and his hands fly up to cover his nose. He’s going to sneeze.

Just then something lights in Sunghoon’s mind at the moment, a very bad very whimsical idea that could warrant him a good ass-kicking from Heeseung.

‘Don’t do it,’ his mind sagely warns him.

Heeseung’s shoulders hitch up, eyes squeezed tightly and mouth parting. ‘DON’T DO IT YOU STUPID IDIOT,’ his mind yells.

In the lieu of the moment, Sunghoon pitches forward and plants an obnoxious kiss at the corner of Heeseung’s right eye, just as he’s about to let out possibly the loudest sneeze of the week, rendering the older shocked out of his skin. At the very much unwarranted act, the need to expulse whatever monstrosity itching in his nose dies away with a dramatic gasp.

Heeseung shoots a glare at the grinning Sunghoon.

“Sunghoon!” he yells, hiccupping while desperately pinching the bridge of his nose. His glare is both teary and deadly, a fatal combination. “You—herk!” he hiccups. “Look what you did—hick! ARGH!”

Sunghoon bellows, a wholehearted laugh that has his eyes crinkling and canines showing until he’s knocked all over the floor, body shaking with laughter.

“You meanie! Why did you do that?” Heeseung whines and he genuinely looks 10 seconds away from wrestling him into a headlock.

“Sorry,” Sunghoon says, wiping a stray tear away with his index finger. Heeseung doesn’t relent, lower lip jutting out in petulance and he turns away, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Aww, I’m sorry, I said I was sorry,” Sunghoon tries again, but the mischief ringing in his tone betrays him. He gently grabs Heeseung’s shoulders, trying to coax him into looking at him but Heeseung stays stubborn, squaring his shoulders like a grudging child.

Oddly, the tips of his ears burn a bright crimson. Sunghoon takes it as a good sign.

“My nose burns, stupid. And the hiccup is annoying,” he sniffs. Sunghoon peers from behind him, a wide Cheshire grin stretching his stupidly handsome face. Without a warning, he engulfs Heeseung in a bear hug, pressing the smaller flush to his front while cooing.

“Aigooo, our precious cinnamon bun is sulking. What should I do?” he shifts them both side to side, refusing to let go even when Heeseung tries pawing his arms off of him.

“Get off.”

“Nope,” when he nuzzles his face into the crook of Heeseung’s neck, the older finally cracks, letting out the highest pitch of a laughter at the ticklish sensation.

“Yah! Stop, fine, okay,” Sunghoon runs his fingers over his waist and ribcage. Heeseung thrashes. “Okay OKAY! You’re forgiven, geez!”

Sunghoon stares down at him splayed helplessly in his laps, grinning and breathless from the tickling session. There’s the tiniest flush to his cheekbones and little white dots sparkling in Heeseung’s eyes. If he wants to be sappy, he would have said they mimic the stars.

The smile ebbs away from Heeseung’s face the longer they stare at each other, each not daring to look away in fear of disturbing this moment, this brief moment of vulnerability and tranquillity. His hand slowly comes up to Sunghoon’s face, hesitation lining his fingers until the tips of them touches his chin.

The effect is almost immediate, surreal in a way that almost takes Sunghoon's breath away at the sensation surging from the mere touch.

When Sunghoon gives no reaction, Heeseung dares himself to caress his cheek, looking overwhelmed and in awe.

Just then it hits Sunghoon, that before this, he would avoid skin contact with Heeseung as much as he bodily could. Well, when he’s sharing the flat and a soulmate with the guy, that idea seems outreached unless he keeps the modern caveman front. He notices how Heeseung craves skin contacts and affections from Jay, from him. He doesn't even hide it, even Jay encourages it, them both being close and loving to each other. Sunghoon just thinks he’s not in the place to be giving just that to him, that it is Jay’s rightful place.

Because Heeseung is meant for Jay, not him.

So when Heeseung’s calloused fingertips brush over his eyelashes, the act yanks him back into reality. Reluctantly, he pulls his face away from Heeseung’s touch, breaking off the intimate moment.

Heeseung’s hand drops down as if he had it flicked over a flame, quickly getting up and scrambling off Sunghoon’s laps. “I—I forgot drinks,” he sputters, giggling nervously as he tames his hair as a distraction.

Sunghoon’s mind and body are screaming bloody murder at himself, but he forces a smile instead. “I’ll get them.”


End file.
